Chess is a game of the mind. It is an ancient game. It exercises
one's mind in a way that no other game can. Chess allows the player
to enter another dimension, another world. It allows the player to
escape from the mundane chores of life. It allows the player to
become aggressive or defensive in a way that he/she cannot in real
life.
And then came computers and computer chess programs.
The reason that I come here to RHP to play chess is to get away from
chess programs.
Any child can set up a chess position on a computer and ask it to work
out the next move. But what then? Where is the satisfaction of victory?
Where is the satisfaction of gaining a rating boost after a long and
difficult game ?
If you use a chess program to play at RHP, then you will never know
exactly how good you are. You are only cheating yourself.
Real players don't care much about ratings, they just want to play
good chess.
Bravo! Intelligent post. Wish there were more like this. Very well-
written too. Still like the 'good, proper English language style'. Have
you read my post a couple of days ago on the same topic?
Title was something like: Don't let a chess-programme decide your
moves'. It's about a Fritz6-experiment I did. Fritz will never convince
me to decide things for me. For better or for worse. It's a good
training-partner (GM-strength) but still very stupid at times. Like my
own moves, although not quite so often winning moves. But that's
chess.
By the way: There's one boardgame, most likely more complicated,
deeper and abstracter than chess; it's Go. Em. Lasker called it 'The
judo of the mind'. He should know.